E&P Reports with Mike Blinder

The Association of Free Community Publications (AFCP) represents publishers of community papers from coast to coast who offer free circulation. AFCP's executive director Loren Colburn has been in touch with hundreds of members during the Coronavirus pandemic to learn how they are coping with a number of different challenges, including the loss of revenue and key distribution points from the large number of restaurants and entertainment venues they conduct business with.

AFCP's Loren Colburn goes one-on one with E&P's publisher Mike Blinder discussing the new ways that free papers are dealing with COVID-19.

Borrell Associates is the nation's leading provider of advertising trends and data for the media industry. Each month, hundreds of local businesses and advertising agencies are researched and compiled into ongoing reports. With this information at hand, Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, reveals what trends we can expect--and more importantly--what tactics and practices we can adopt to help stem the tide of revenue loss due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As the coronavirus spreads across the world, news media companies are grappling with so much more than coverage: work-from-home plans, coronavirus-related product development, advertising declines, and the impending fallout on the economy and advertising revenues. With more than 7,000 members in 80+ countries, the International News Media Association (INMA) is conducting ongoing research and outreach to its members to help advise on best practices in dealing with pandemic.

Mike Blinder, publisher of E&P, goes 1-on-1 with INMA CEO Earl Wilkinson to learn more about their findings.

Make Sure You Are Deemed "Essential" By Your Local/ State Government.

In Italy, which is currently under lockdown in an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus, a debate is waging about the importance of print newspapers. Here in the US some states and cities are making sure that local newspapers have "essential" status in order to publish their products in this time of crisis.

Essential to this initiative is the News Media Alliance (NMA) as they have put together all the tools needed to make sure that we stay in business to serve our communities.

Mike Blinder, Publisher of E&P, speaks with Dave Chavern, CEO of the NMA on what they are doing to help us and what resources are available for you to make sure your town, city or local government gives you "essential" status to publish.

Mike also asks Dave about two other important initiatives that NMA is working on in our behalf: The News Impact Project and the Safe Harbor Bill.

The Facebook Journalism Project is partnering with the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the Local Media Association (LMA) to offer a total of $1 million in grants to support US and Canadian local news organizations covering the coronavirus. These grants will help fill immediate gaps for resource-constrained newsrooms covering the impact of the coronavirus in their communities.

Mike Blinder, Publisher of E&P speaks with Jed Williams, Chief Strategy Officer of the LMA about the program

Apply for the great, here: http://bit.ly/33uB9dZ

The Financial Times understands what it's like to be a digital leader. It launched its first paywall in 2002 and over the last decade, the paper has focused on a "north star" metric based on reader engagement. In April 2019, the FT reached 1 million paying readers, one year ahead of schedule. Due to its digital success, E&Precently named the FT as one of their 10 News Publishers That Do It Right. E&P editor-in-chief Nu Yang goes 1-on-1 with FT chief data officer Tom Betts to discuss their formula, the launch of their boutique consultancy firm FT Strategies, and how publishers can find their own metric "north star."

The 2nd Google NorthAmerican Innovation Challenge is now open for submissions focusing on projects that showcase diversification, equity and inclusion in journalism. "Googler" LaToya Drake, Global Outreach Lead for the Google News Initiative, chats with E&P Publisher Mike Blinder about this year's challenge and how any publisher—no matter what size market—can enter.

Applications are now open, and the deadline to submit is May 12, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. PT. In addition, over the next 10 weeks, Google will hold workshops and bootcamps to get the word out and answer questions about the challenge. The first town hall will be on March 18 at 9 a.m. PT. Tune in using this link.

In 2018, Paxton Media Group acquired the Kentucky New Era and four smaller newspapers (Dawson Springs Progress, Princeton Times Leader, Providence Journal-Enterprise and Oak Grove Eagle Post). Since then, the New Era has experienced big changes like getting a new publisher, editor and a new office to call home. Publisher Brandon Cox shares what it was like to adopt these changes and what's next for the group of newspapers.

Peter Newton was a huge part of GateHouse Media's expansion into the digital service sector with the launch of their Propel and ThriveHive initiatives. But Newton was a big part of driving the entire industry into selling more than just advertising solutions to their customers. It was during those six years in senior management that the company had its most growth in market acquisitions. Now that Newton has left the country's largest newspaper company, he continues to work within our industry consulting some of our digital partners as well as leading a drive to innovation through the Local Media Association's Accelerate Local Project.

Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with Newton as the former GateHouse COO speaks about where he thinks the industry has been and where it is going today in our challenging times. He also gives advice to independent newspapers who lack some of the resources that large company company ownership can provide.

Joey Young purchased his first newspaper at the age of 27. Seven years later, his company, Kansas Publishing Ventures, owns six award-winning community publications with more than 30 employees that is growing audience and revenue against some big company dailies. Moreover, thanks to his passion for local journalism and keen ability to hire and maintain a motivated team, KPV continues to grow and prosper.